SUSTAINABLE DESIGN CAPSTONE SEMINAR WEEK 3

READING

Simon Lewis and Mark Maslin, The Human Planet: How We Created the Anthropocene (2018): Introduction & Chapters 1-2. (Course text)

SUGGESTED RESPONSE TOPICS

• How does thinking about human existence and the Anthropocene at this time scale—the scale of the epoch—make you think differently about climate change in our present moment?

• Is the method used in this study, examining geological evidence, convincing to you in establishing the start date of the Anthropocene? What other methods might be possible?

• What might be some relationships between sustainable design at the small scale (like graphic, product, or industrial design), climate change at the planetary scale, and Earth’s history at the scale of the epoch? How do you see sustainable design having an impact on this deep history?